Favorite Places

A few posts ago, I asked you to pack and be ready to travel with me to one of my favorite places. Packing...well, you don't need much. This time of year-- sunscreen, good walking shoes, camera, and water. I'll bring along "the kit".

I traveled with my SIL to the barn last week to photograph Tango Tricks, and on the way there we spotted a cemetery. Not a new cemetery; but what appeared to be an historic graveyard. We stopped on the way back and I got some photographs. No, I'm not a goth and no I'm not obsessed with death or morbid things. Cemeteries to me are stories waiting to be told. Everyone buried there is a wife, a mother, a sister, a brother, a husband, a cousin, a grandfather, or a grandmother. Everyone! They all have a story they'd like us to know, to share; even if you're not family.

Randomly I snapped photo's, pointing to a few I thought were particularly interesting to Jan. She remarked about the peacefulness, serenity and beauty of the cemetery. We were high on a hill, overlooking a bountiful cornfield and it was truly beautiful.

I did minimal research here to prove a point. The point, look what one can learn; what story one can tell with just a little bit of curiosity.

James Garlinghouse (rather unusual name I thought, and so I photographed the stone, and wow, look at the dates). died in 1850. Died before the civil war, at the age of 85........that means James was born in 1765 Before we gained our Independence from England. Think about that for a moment. This stone marking the life of James Garlinghouse is 159 years old. If only it could talk to us. Well, in a way it can and does.

What I found without doing lots research is the following:
James was born in 1765 in Sussex, NJ. He died at the age of 85 years and 8 months in the county of Delaware, Ohio. His military records, indicate burial is unknown; with a side note that says buried in Fancher Maple Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio. The cemetery is in Harlem Township in Delaware County, and while there we speculated that it was probably a church cemetery in the beginning.............Maple Grove, perhaps is the name of the church?

The official Roster for the state of Ohio for soldiers of The American Revoluntion list him with a matching date of death. Our quick little stop, and we're looking at a stone for someone who fought for this country's independence.......and we did this 1 week before this country's celebration on the 4th of July! That too me is awesome.

Futher speculative information says this James and his brother John built a cabin along side a Mill, and Mary Garlinghouse, daughter of James is listed as the first white woman born in the area of Springwater. Springwater is in Pennsylvania. So........why did a man born in NJ, end up buried in Ohio, if he had a daughter born in Pennsylvania? This was, after all before frequent flyer miles. The research does go onto say, the connection of the Springhill Garlinghouse clan hasn't been proven by way of documentation; but it's listed as highly probable.

Math....math is alway in play when telling stories of those that came before us. Math tells me that If this James was born in 1765 he would have been 11 in 1776. Hum.......yes it happened. Then too the date could be wrong, after all records were not infallible, and people didn't read and write...so...........we do have a story; but, surely there's more

If indeed this is a Revolutionary War Veteran, let's doth our hats. If not, well let's honor him anyway. After all he was someone's son, perhaps a brother, a husband and more. If only that stone could talk and tell us more.
***
I like cemeteries, they are filled with history, with stories of people like you and me, of families who paved the way for us, who gave so much of themselves to the country and the land. Visiting cemeteries, photographing and documenting the stones and the stories they hold are to me ways to honor them. The kit I referred to above is my gravin box. In it I keep a pair of gloves, spray bottle of water, soft brush, American Flags, and trimmers. Sometimes one needs to do a little clean up around these old stones. The water can help cox the story from a hard to read stone.

Next we'll be traveling to sun, sand, and surf. Bring your bathing suits and journals.

Traveling Suitcase 1st Award

Here are the rules:
1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Shelly at Wine at 52) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I've had this lovely blog award in my file of things to do for awhile. I don't take awards lightly and so; have decided I now have some time to begin this lovely process.

First, many thanks Shelly. Please pop over, you'll enjoy her blog as much as I do. She's become one of my frequent travelers of late and so I have her listed on my blog log as well. She posts about many things that we can all relate to in our daily lives.

Pass the award onto 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Wow...that's a tall order. I visit a good number of blogs daily; but to say I've newly discovered them would be incorrect. So here I will list 5, and as I continue to roam about blog to blog; no doubt I'll find others to honor as well.

So this then is part I:
Coming Back to Life (Clara)
Mature not Senile (Judy)
Eddie's
Tweedles
Psychotic Housewife.

This is a very diverse list of blogs, all are worth your time and energy. Do click and visit and tell'em I sent ya.

EntreCard Droppers
Many thanks to my top droppers (I missed the exact end of the month), sorry will post this now.

Dropper	# of drops
Split Rock Ranch	31
Hello Kitty Gifts	31
Go Las Vegas Baby!	31
Free Stuff in Las Vegas Baby	30
New Dilemma	30
Confessions of a Psychotic Housewife	30
Lifesigns Life Quotes	30
The Chicago History Journal	30
Winesworld's blog	28
Beyond Feron	27

Please get your bags packed and journey with me as we next travel to a favorite place of mine. I'm really excited to share it with you.

Previous post Colonial Williamsburg perfect as we think about the 4th of July

Ford's Colony, Williamsburg, Virginia

The outside of The Manor Club is as pretty as the inside. It's very Colonial in design, which is appropriate, given it's close proximity to Colonial Williamsburg. It's quite homey. A gated community, while hubby was off golfing, my daughter and I could go for walks and feel very comfortable. The Manor Club is a Marriott property in Colonial Williamsburg.




Such pretty bathrooms. This is the 2nd bathroom, the small one
that goes with the 2nd bedroom. A door could be closed between her space and our space, which it private--apt like.







The living room was beautiful, roomy and had plenty of furniture. There's a fireplace, though we didn't use it when we were there last July. Looking out the big sliding glass door is our screened in porch with table and chairs. We often had cocktails or ate our meals there.



Outside grill areas made cooking out convenient. This area was in the building next to ours; but still quite handy. We sat at the pool, enjoyed walks in the area, toured the historic area of Williamsburg, and hubby played multiple games of golf. Depending on your lodging, you get a certain number of free games. There's a spa which my daughter and I enjoyed one day while he was off golfing.



Join us for dinner? We had grilled veggies, baked potatoes and steak with a nice bottle of wine. The 3 of us sat leisurely and enjoyed the pretty views.






This is for the golfers out there. You can see how close we were to the course. Right out our screened porch. In fact, these photo's were taken right through the screen. Very nice to sit and cool off in the shade on the porch, or have our evening cocktails there as we planned what to do for dinner. This is hubby.


While in Virginia, tour the University,
Posting about Williamsburg seems very fitting as we begin to celebrate our Nations Birthday!
Happy Birthday America

**The trip had it all:

• good food
• pretty sites
• historical sites
• golf
• pool
• plenty of relaxation
  

There's No Place Like Home Toto

"There's no place like home". I love to travel, feel and see different sites and sounds; but I think Dorothy was right, "There's no place like Home."

This Traveling Suitcase is taking this brief moment to say...travel to your backyard and smell the flowers. Roll in the grass, sniff the air. Lay on your back and look at the sky.

I'm borrowing from a comment on my last post. See what Tweedles says about traveling.

Hello talking suitcase.
I think you should try the Oregon Coast. From the moment you step outside and take a deep breath of air- the feeling starts. One minute it's foggy and misty. The next minute, the sun peeks through the clouds. The air smells like the sea. Salt gets on your lips. The winds start to blow, and tosses your hair. The kites go up in the air. And the next thing you know, your having a good time! And sometimes you find magic!

Tweedles

We travel everyday, to and from work, the library, the dry cleaners. We travel over bridges, through tunnel and beyond; but what do you see along the way? Do you stop and smell the flowers? Do you feel the air? Do you take just a brief minute to take it all in?

• Please tell me what you see in your daily travels
• Do you travel with your pets?
• Do you hire a sitter while you're away
• Do you board your pets?
• If you take your pets with you when you travel, how differently do you plan? Things like when and where to stop, where you lodge....Please share. I'll be compiling lots of good tips from all your experiences.

Be safe and see you soon, my little legs (take a look at those skinny legs on the suitcase), should be rested and ready to go again in a day or so.

Cayucos, California Coast Road heading North

The views were interesting, though obstructed due to the heavy cloud cover as a result of "The fires". We never saw the sun once we left Palm Springs area for any period of time. Several times here on my blog, I've poked fun at the lack of sun--in sunny California AND how I needed to return to Ohio to see the sun and get warm again. These pictures will bare that out.



Steep, rugid coast line as one heads north up the coast road. The water wasn't pretty blue, nor was the sky. People weren't swimming or walking the shore line. Nothing about this coast line resembles the sandy beaches so well known on the other coast. Though interesting, it was not what I expected; and I was a bit disappointed. I had heard many times about how beautiful the California coast was. Much of the time while travel the coast road, you don't even see the water. That was really disappointing. There were pull offs from time to time where you had these views that I imagine might be breathtaking under other circumstances.



The Pier was all but deserted. Only a few souls in the water or on the beach. Not really even any fisherman to speak of. The pier at Cayucos is 130 foot wide and 800 foot long. No doubt it's normally quite a gathering place.



Schooners Wharf is where we stopped for a late lunch. We had to get off the coast road to find this rather then being right on the coast road as we expected. It's old, pretty run down and has a pretty limited menu. The wind was really something the day we were there, with lots of folks crowded inside for protection. We got a table outside so we could see; but were glad of the wind block. This resturant has a webpage and quite a variety of reviews. It's considered to be the best around by some and not even close by others. Didn't notice any middle ground reviews. The food was normal bar food from our perspective, nothing to rave about; though we had a good time there as we planned the next part of our journey. It's probably not what I would classify as a family place, nor a place I would recommend as a must stop location.


HAZE...the winds were blowing in the smoke from "The Fires", though we didn't smell smoke at this point.

*previous post The Seals, check it out if you missed it.
**During the boring part of the drive when we weren't really seeing the water, coast etc. I was knitted and crocheting for The Bridge Project

California Elephant Seals- Barking, Snarling, Arguing, Lumbering, and Snuggling

Traveling north up the California coast line in our rented car, after a wonderful night in Santa Barbara; we stopped to visit the seals. Zalophus Califorianus, California Elephant Seals. Fascinating to watch.

Barking Seals. You should have heard the noise. We heard it from the highway. Really sounded like a bunch of dogs.





Snarling Seals, were really not happy with each other. No clue what the problem was.







Arguing seals. They seemed pretty aggressive. I was glad to be good distance away.





Lumbering Seals, coming ashore. They moved pretty slowly, so much weight to move around. It was a move stop, move again situation. Getting in from the water really took time.



Snuggling and molting seals. They were laying all over each other. Suppose for the warmth, but given their weight I was surprised to see them stacked on top of each other. The molting made them all appear different colors, almost spotted in some cases.

California Seals really aren't true seals. Zalophus Califorianus are intelligent circus type seals. These seals are highly trainable. The navy trains seals, you see seals at the circus performing tricks, you know with the balls on their noises. They weight up to 660 pounds and can be 8 foot long if male, lighter and shorter if female.

**if you missed the previous post about traveling with children, it's not to late, it's still here.
for those who like to know whats up next...scenery still on the coast road check back

Traveling with Kids, SPECIAL Trip Ticks

"Are we there yet"? "I'm hungry". "Mom, he's on my side........Brings back memories I bet for lots of us. Make travel easier for all. Make your child his or her "special", very own trip tick. You can keep them busy, make them feel special, and the time spent in the car will be more pleasant for all. PLUS, the bonus is your kids will actually learn something while on vacation.

Supplies needed:
3 ring notebook
pocket dividers
colored pencils (not crayons they melt, not markers they're too messy)
Plain White Paper for drawing
Lined paper for writing

Divide by area, or state depending on the age of the child and were you're going AND how long you'll be in the car.

Make a few math problems that involve the kids keeping track of monies spent for gas, food, miles traveled, ...let them figure out how many miles per gallon you're getting. Things like how far it is from point A to point B.

Make hidden word puzzles about vacation, the things you're going to do and see along the way.......like the names of cities you'll travel through, the capitals of the states you'll be in, the state bird.

Have pictures to color that are appropriate....like the state bird. See if they can find them or the state flower as they look out the window.

Make a fact sheet about what's interesting in that area, like what famous person came from there, or what sports teams are in that city (if you've got a sports minded kid).

Encourage them to write a travel journal (we left the house at 7 am, and I was the first to see a Cardinal, the state bird of Ohio...), tie it all in together. If your child's a reader, try to find a book appropriate for the area so they'll have something they can tell you. **For helpful tips on how to encourage them to journal, PLEASE visit my SIL's blog.

As you travel ask them what you're going to see next, how far it is to the next stop etc. Make them a part of it.

I did this every year, and after the first year; my daughter could hardly wait to get in the car and see what I'd put together for her. DON'T LET THEM SEE THEIR TRIP TICK BEFORE GETTING IN THE CAR. KEEP IT A SURPRISE.

Turn off the DVD player, car time is wonderful family time...use it. They can watch TV and DVD anytime; make vacation special--make it different.

The picture is just a pretty flower, has nothing to do with the post, just thought you'd all enjoy it.